All news and blog posts

In October 2019 the Open Justice Centre and Middlesex University ran their second joint Student Street Law conference.  Twenty OU students worked with the same number of Middlesex students from Friday evening to Sunday tea time.

The Open Justice Centre has launched an exciting new initiative for its alumni to help shape the development of future legal outreach projects.

A dozen alumni volunteers have been appointed to sit on the new Open Justice Student Ambassador Panel after being invited to express an interest in this voluntary two-year role. The Panel will have a direct input into the work of the Centre and will meet online three times a year.

In this guest post, Lucy Pettinger, a current Open Justice student, tackles the issue of whether or not UK lawyers should be obliged to offer their services for free to some clients. She makes a strong case that although pro bono should be promoted, much would be lost if it were made compulsory.

As the Open Justice Centre approaches its third anniversary, the 2019 Annual Report provides an opportunity to review the progress of the Centre since its inception in 2016.

The Centre’s development has benefitted greatly from the support of The Open University's Law and Business Schools, the Vice Chancellor’s Executive and from the generosity of external partners who have provided invaluable advice, guidance and encouragement.

Jamahl received a 2019 Open Justice Award for an outstanding contribution to Open Justice pro bono activities. In this post he reflects on his experience of studying W360: Justice in Action which included working in prisons and providing free legal advice to members of the public in the Open Justice Online Law Clinic.

Introduction

Now, I’m going to be frank. When I was considering my optional module at the end of my degree I was concerned about W360 Justice in Action (the Open Justice module) because, as a relatively new addition to the Open University’s offering, it was a bit of an unknown quantity and the success of my overall degree grade rested on how well I could do in the last two 30 credit modules. I had a big interest in social justice, so it had real appeal, but I was particularly concerned about the team-working element and whether, despite my best efforts, this could negatively impact on my grades.

Our prison project made front page of the July edition of the HMP High Down Prisoner Newsletter called “High Down Low Down”

The Wigan Observer covered our prison radio project in their recent July 30th issue.

Wigan Post published an article online and in the newspaper on the 19th and the 21st August.

Amanda Hamilton is CEO of the National Association of Licensed Paralegals

The changes within the legal services sector over the last decade, means that there is plenty of scope for paralegals to take up the slack and fill the gaps left by those changes. These opportunities have been as a result of the virtual eradication of legal aid for consumers, the level of fees charged by solicitors and barristers (inaccessible for most), the cost of academic training and the abundance of law graduates.

In this blog post Open Justice law student Maurice Doona reflects on his experience of working to support litigants in person as they try to navigate the complexities of the family law court system.